Nothing about toytrains this time, but I have some holiday pictures I want to share. This summer I went to switserland with the motorbike (about 1000k's single trip) and had a day on the swiss excellent railway net..
This is the place where I was born in 1974. A wooden farmhouse in a forrest-village somewhere in the mountains in Switserland. It still is one of the best places in the world!!
Now we are in a train towards andermatt, a small village in the mountains where the narrow track rack railway begins.
The very nice rack railway locomotive is waiting. On these railway's the locomotive doesn't need to be on the low side of the train; in case a coupler breaks, each car has it's own gear which grabs in the rack to stop the car in case of an emergency.
Near Chur, the river Rhein has made a beautifull landscape in the sand/ chalkstone it's running trough.
Another view of the magnificent landscape. Even I didn't know of it's excistence..
From big trains to toy trains. All 3 rail operated on Kaiser track. Buco is the most common brand on this layout. It was too dark to make any decent photo's, since the flashlight mirrored itself onto almost any object. Sadly this is the only picture which is interesting enough to show.
On the way through switserland with the motorbike.. Here I sat on the terrace of a restaurant drinking coffe, while an Alphorn orchestra was making the background noise..
On the way with the bike, kind of heavy loaded with a tent, sleeping gear and for a week clothes..
On the camp-site. The bike could have some rest too..
The next day I returned home, 1200 km's in a one day trip and I was kind of weared out. It was a wonderfull trip however..
Daan.....those are some great pictures of beautiful scenery. You must have really enjoyed that trip. Layout looks big.
Chuck
Santa Fe Kent wrote:Nice! But none of the track in those pictures seem to show the rack?!
Yep, unlike the Jungfrau Bahn, the most known rack railway of the country, this engines are suited for rack and adhesive operation. Like a 4x4 they have high gear for adhesive operation and low gear when the rack is coupled. (Instead of gears to get high gear and low gear they use dual speed motors, with multiple coils to vary the strength and amount of degrees for the field magnets of the motor)
The rackrailway use on the Jungfrau Bahn doesn't have adhesive operation. Even on flat area's they use the rack to propel the trains. It gives very interesting switches, almost a look alike of our 3 rail track.
@ sask, I don't have any Buco either, but on the swiss ebay it shows up now and then. Kaiser also made some very nice models, but they are very expensive. A friend of mine has some of their engines, completely made of metal and postwar style gearwork. But all very precise and accurate, like a giant swiss watch..
The Jungfraubahn has the distinction of using 3-phase overhead wire, with two side-by-side pantographs.
The Wengernalpbahn, the rack railroad leading to the lower terminus of the Jungfraubahn at Kleine Scheidegg, is also interesting, for its unusual 800-millimeter gauge, which is exactly half the Irish gauge. They are the only gauges I am aware of that are in the ISO R10 series of preferred numbers both in inches and in millimeters.
Here's a webcam for anyone who would like an (almost) live look from a Swiss locomotive: http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/loco/lok.cfm
Bob Nelson
Lucky you! I'd love to ride my Vulcan and sidecar through the Alps.
As a child I went to Switzerland twice, once with my father (who sold real railway locos) on a business trip, once with my scout troop then got to stay in the hotel on my own for a week till Dad caught up with me. I have never forgotten Switzerland it has always remained in my memory as the most beautiful country I have ever seen. I rode every railway line I could get to, I particularly remember one breathtaking stone viaduct which was barely wider than the track, looking out of the car window you could see straight down for a long way, it was as if the train was flying through the air.
Your pictures brought back some happy memories. Many of dads business friends had enormous model railway layouts built 'for their sons'! A friend of his, Klaus Ehrentraut had a fabulous Marklin setup and everytime I saw him he gave me another Trix Twin locomotive for my collection. German toys were the best back in the 50's. A very enjoyable post, thanks.
If you have relatives in Switserland, ask them about the local government daycard for the railway's. It costs about 32 swiss francs and you can enjoy every railway in the country for 1 day with it. Normally the trainrides are expensive in Switserland, but with this card it's drop dead cheap.
@lionelsony, I have that webcam in my favourites map for a long time now. Shame it doesn't refresh every 2 or 3 seconds, but it's one of the cam's on vehicle's still in operation and it's interesting to see where it is when you drop in every now and then.
@Thor, Which locomotive manufacturer your father presented? Most of the locomotives in switserland where build at the SLM in Winterthur. (Schweizer Lokomotiven und Machinenfabrik). Now they do deals with Talbot and others as well, but untill not so long ago the trains where mainly built at the SLM.
And a Vulcan with sidecar? That's an odd combination! Do you have a picture of it?
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Daan
Dad dealt mainly with North British, this is going back a few decades! He was a consulting civil engineer specialising in railways, mines and plantations, I used to get hauled around trade fairs in Germany and Switzerland as a kid to demonstrate to potential buyers that a child could operate the trains. It was a German firm that made the diesel switcher but I don't recall the name - I was only 8yrs old. I do remember the controls though. There was a red button for stopping and a yellow one for starting and a single lever that was a deadmans handle with centre off left reverse right forward.
It was a diesel hydraulic shunting engine, narrow gauge, quite small meant for mine work, dark green with a gray roof. The cab was just big enough for a seated adult, I'd guess the whole thing was about 15ft long. They even made a clockwork powered O gauge model of it to give away to potential buyers complete with a circle of track, tipping ore cars all of which were models of the real thing.
I'll see if I can find a picture of the bike, I've got tons but I forget where I put them! I fitted a Velorex to it myself, its a difficult frame to attach a chair too but the 1500 V-Twin is an ideal engine for this. Its my only form of transport I ride all year round.
Daan,
Beautiful pictues. One question on the train layout. It looks to have an extensive catenary system, is it operational or just for looks?
Thanks,
Thor, Those are some great stories! You certainly had an amazing childhood!
I think that I know what kind of diesel switcher and clockwork train set those were. When you described the clockwork train, I knew instantly that it had to be Billerbahn. These were tinplate O "scale" models of narrow gauge trains that ran on OO gauge track. They were manufactured from 1948 until 1977. The first models were clockwork, with some later ones being battery powered. One of their models was a diesel switcher based on a type made by firm Deutz. Look at this site: http://home.arcor.de/jtd-dressel/billerbahn/billerprototype.htm . Is this the kind of engine you ran?
The above link is part of a website all about Billberbahn ( http://home.arcor.de/jtd-dressel/billerbahn/ ), which greets you with a picture of the train set you describe.
Also check out http://www.billerbahn.de/Englisch/Start-eng.htm , which has a very extensive look at every train that Biller made with information on catalogues, variations, etc.
@ jefelectric, the catenary system was operational on this layout. If I can recall it right, most of it was homebuilt by the collector of these models, but they also mentionned that Kaiser catenary was used on some points.
@Thor, Those Deutz minelocomotives are still extremely populair in Europe. The narrowgauge museum in Holland does own a few, I also have seen them as ornaments in front of mines and in use of passenger trains in mines in Germany which one can visit.
On the Motorbike, do you have the bullet-type sidecar or the more modern one? Velorex made some very beautifull sidecars. And indeed a slow revving 1500cc motorbike is a good combination with it. Certainly because of the shaft drive, since the chain would be behind the sidecar..
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